Absolutely amazing article on The Huffington Post this morning about him:-

Anyone who has seen the online videos of Dapper Laughs - real name Daniel O'Reilly - will be au fait with the misplaced pride in idiocy and the triumphant doltishness of this arch dunce. His act is a woeful, misogynistic celebration of banter-based cretinism that is sadly having a renaissance among the unenlightened, the confused, the intellectually frightened and the simpleton.

In short - the entire oeuvre of Dapper Laughs represents an avalanche of brainlessness bilging over 21st Century culture like a soft wave of WKD-infused phlegm. His belligerent sexism and veneration of anti-intellectualism is the clarion call of a people shovelling themselves into the excrement of history.

But this is all by the by. It is self-evident to anyone who watches his output and who isn't an idiot.

I want to talk about the production team, the commissioners and the management behind the new ITV2 series Dapper Laughs: On The Pull. The runners are the only people I'll turn a blind eye to. The truth is, the rest of you are old enough to know better. You have basically helped create a rapists' almanac. Sure you haven't told people how to come equipped with rope or chloroform - but you have contributed to a prevalent predatory culture that reduces women to nothing more than a piece of cunt. That's an ugly turn of phrase but that's exactly what you've done.

You've made a show that contributes to a society that already doesn't treat women by default as human beings with brains and imaginations and thoughts and ideas and humour and anger and beliefs and flaws as is the birthright of men - but you have reduced them to pussy. In doing so you despise your mums. You despise your daughters. You despise your sisters. You despise your wives.

You despise women everywhere if you have helped play a part in allowing this rat-tousled, fuck-spiv to have a platform to pump shit into British society. I understand you have to pay the rent but for fuck's sake.

As for Dapper Laughs, he is devoid of aspiration. No imagination. No dreams. No vision. No passion. The timeline of his life is a dog dragging its anus on the floor and then looking to camera with its tongue ogling out. That is Dapper Laughs crawling towards death. Dragging his bum along the floor like a dog with worms, and all he will leave after him is a smear of shit.

Now that I have guaranteed I won't be making anything for ITV any time soon, I want to pre-empt a couple of arguments I have seen made in defence of Dapper Laughs'new misogynistic show - commissioned by ITV and made by Big Minded TV because they saw from Dapper Laughs' Vines that there is a big audience of sexists and that they can make money from their shirted monkey.

Some have tried to argue that those attacking Dapper Laughs are snobs - that they represent the sneering contempt of the middle-classes bitter at seeing this successful expression of working-class culture as evinced by Dapper Laughs. This is nonsense.

I'm loathe to talk about myself but - because in this case it's relevant - I should say I come from a family of working-class cab drivers who pretty much work stupid hours until the day they die. I had to take a year out to work on a till, gather trolleys and stack bread in order to help finance myself through university. I'm not a working-class hero but my point is my disdain for Dapper Laughs is not an act of class snobbery. It is an act of ideology. It is a simple ideology: one that is bored in 2014 of hateful, sexist arseholes and those who empower their narratives. And would you believe lots of working class people subscribe to this ideology too.

Those attempting to dismiss the critics of Dapper Laughs as being 'snooty' seem to me the true snobs and advocates of class contempt - for they seek to equate misogyny as being a characteristically working-class phenomenon that somehow needs to be protected - as if it were part of their working-class 'indigenous' culture.

This patronising contempt aside, it also ignores the fact that woman-hatred, sexism, domestic violence, rape, bullying, belittling and other types of gender abuse exist across all social, economic and cultural backgrounds. It is not a class issue. It is a human being issue and should be challenged wherever it exists.

Another line of argument has been to position Dapper Laughs as some kind of Herculean character comedian whose utter brilliance has transcended all historic records of undercover performance heretofore known - so immersive that even he doesn't know he's not really a sexist. No one believes that. But I would love to see someone from ITV genuinely try to argue this in front of their peers.

Firstly, because it would be interesting to see how they square two irreconcilable arguments - thatDapper Laughs is both a spoof character and satirist as well as being a sincere and earnest representation of unreconstructed, working-class banter. Secondly, seeing someone trying to compare On The Pull with the work of Andy Kaufmann or Sacha Baron Cohen would be nothing short of hilarious and give us our first ever Dapper Laughs related chuckle.

Here's the final thing: I know everyone who worked on this show is normal and decent. I know they aren't evil people. I know I have been vehement and forceful in making my point. Harsh even.

But undress the deliberate provocation and confrontational style and the same sincere points are still there. I can't pretend I don't see the retrograde aspects of this show for harmony's sake. It's certainly not going to do my career any good publicly cussing an entire TV station or upsetting hard-working producers trying to make a living. But I wouldn't publish this unless I felt sufficiently tired of the tacit acceptability of Dapper Laughs' brand of hateful nonsense or felt that the need to speak up outweighed any fear of career damage.

If I could sum everything up in one go it would be this: We don't work in an industry that is somehow separate from reality. What we do is not 'just telly'. We are helping to shape the reality we live in. What we put on the screen has a real world effect. And this show contributes to a culture of abuse that degrades us all - men and women - boys and girls.

It is bad for girls evidently as they have to put up with numbskulls like Dapper Laughs, but it is damaging to boys as well by filling their heads with such nasty, disabling nonsense, warping their sense of what real engagement with 50% of Planet Earth's population could be like.

I know this is an industry run on fear on so many levels - from fear of failure to fear of where the next job's coming from - but I'm 36 now. In four years time I'll have been bald for half my life. Personally, I want to leave more good in the world than crap. Sometimes that means dusting your hands and saying, 'This is bullshit - I'm out.'

The chase for ratings and the next buck is a compelling one. But we have to start taking some responsibility for what we put on TV and ask ourselves whether we've made the world a better or a worse place when the credits roll.

I particularly liked the part about class because I think that's an important line to be drawn through this argument. The middle classes are the ones supposedly tut-tutting about this bastard while the working classes are the dunces that support his alleged comedy. Yeah, fuck off with that shit.

Why's this text gone like this font? Stupid bloody forum.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Devon Malcolm

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The thing is, if it was all a gimmick with an ironic sense of comedy, I'd understand. In the same vein as a Sacha Baron Cohen character. I still wouldn't find it funny, but I'd understand. But this doesn't seem to be a gimmick, this is him- a #ProperLAD with an outdated, misogynistic and sexist vibe. It's just awful. Yet there is a market for this kind of humour and it's unsurprising that he's got a show on ITV2 of all places- where the likes of Keith Lemon are king.

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His arrival on ITV2 for his own show was as predictable as it comes. It's the perfect spiritual home for him, a channel filled with The Jeremy Kyle Show, Celebrity Juice, The Only Way Is Essex and sundry other horrors - he should, and does, fit in perfectly.

What saddens me is just how many female fans he has. In fact, he seems to have more female fans than male.

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Exactly the point I was going to make. ITV2 is targetted predominantly towards females, right? Why does he have a lot of female fans then? Are they thinking that they'd give him one? Do they like that he's cheeky and a bit of a 'bad boy'? Yeah, probably. Women will always be attracted to 'bad boy' traits. Not that I'm saying that if I went up to Emma Watson and said 'get your laughing gear round this' she'd fall for me, but to...'simpler' people, they'll relate to Dapper Laughs as they've seen his sort in everyday life and they'll laugh at his jokes. I don't despise him and, for whatever reason, I couldn't agree with how aggressively negative the article was.

EDIT: I should probably add that whilst watching the show, there were moments I was thinking 'surely the women watching aren't keen on this?' But a lot won't bat an eyelid. It wasn't anything shocking or taboo, just I kept thinking how it was on a channel that is mainly targetted towards females.

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Exactly the point I was going to make. ITV2 is targetted predominantly towards females, right? Why does he have a lot of female fans then? Are they thinking that they'd give him one? Do they like that he's cheeky and a bit of a 'bad boy'? Yeah, probably. Women will always be attracted to 'bad boy' traits. Not that I'm saying that if I went up to Emma Watson and said 'get your laughing gear round this' she'd fall for me, but to...'simpler' people, they'll relate to Dapper Laughs as they've seen his sort in everyday life and they'll laugh at his jokes. I don't despise him and, for whatever reason, I couldn't agree with how aggressively negative the article was.

EDIT: I should probably add that whilst watching the show, there were moments I was thinking 'surely the women watching aren't keen on this?' But a lot won't bat an eyelid. It wasn't anything shocking or taboo, just I kept thinking how it was on a channel that is mainly targetted towards females.

That's what makes it all the more baffling. Here we have this misogynist tripe on a channel that is supposed to have its programming aimed at women.

The thing is that channel isn't really aimed at women. It's what ITV thinks most women would like to watch, just like ITV4 is what they would like to think most men would be interested in.

So why is ITV2 filled with such hateful, mindless crap whilst ITV4 actually has some decent programming on it? Surely Dapper Laughs should be on there? It's absolutely perverse. It's 2014 and we've got TV stations that notionally aim themselves at a particular gender. Fuck's sake!

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Exactly the point I was going to make. ITV2 is targetted predominantly towards females, right? Why does he have a lot of female fans then? Are they thinking that they'd give him one? Do they like that he's cheeky and a bit of a 'bad boy'? Yeah, probably. Women will always be attracted to 'bad boy' traits. Not that I'm saying that if I went up to Emma Watson and said 'get your laughing gear round this' she'd fall for me, but to...'simpler' people, they'll relate to Dapper Laughs as they've seen his sort in everyday life and they'll laugh at his jokes. I don't despise him and, for whatever reason, I couldn't agree with how aggressively negative the article was.

EDIT: I should probably add that whilst watching the show, there were moments I was thinking 'surely the women watching aren't keen on this?' But a lot won't bat an eyelid. It wasn't anything shocking or taboo, just I kept thinking how it was on a channel that is mainly targetted towards females.

Within a week of the Sam Pepper thing*, his mentions feed on Twitter was back to being flooded by @s from teenage girls going "you could rape me and I wouldn't call the police, you're perfect xoxo".But that's all down to the fact these characters have such a massive cultural influence on their primarily young audience, that many teenage girls end up seeing them as having the aspirational qualities of a partner.

*ex-Big Brother housemate who became a massive, rich, Youtube celebrity, posted a video of him groping women on the street with the proviso "It's just a prank love, lol" causing mass outrage, and a sudden influx of allegations of rape against teenage fans.

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I read the (originally posted) article the other on Chortle & was talking about him with some comedians in the green room at our show last Friday night. It’s really interesting, there’s a lot of people complaining about his act & IMO it’s a mixture of bemusement, disgust & (from some comedians) jealousy. If you break down the arguments against his shtick there’s not actually that much there.

‘It’s disgusting towards women’ Yet as D Mal pointed out, more of his fans are female than male. They’re not bothered by it so why are you?

‘It’s not funny’ That’s just personal taste. The fact his last tour sold more tickets than Stewart Lee’s did & without a TV show (just Twitter & Vine) to promote it suggests there’s plenty of people that think he’s great.

‘It’s lowest common denominator trash’ As is half of our mainstream TV output. Put on ITV on a Saturday night & see.

Most of his critics that I’ve seen (like the article author) are people in their mid-thirties & older. That’s not his audience, it’s simply not for you. If there’s any art form, comedy, music whatever that the kids love but older people hate then that’s great! When ‘The Young Ones’ & Alexei Sayle broke through & teenagers loved them I imagine their parents, who were watching Terry & June and Cannon & Ball hated it with a passion. This is no different. My mum hated me listening to gangsta rap & my grandparents hated my uncle liking the Sex Pistols.

I think he’s the drizzling shits & I should as it’s not meant for me. The kids need something that’s just for them & if older people disapprove massively then good, it’s how it should be.

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Yeah, I do think that a lot don't know any better. That's what I'm alluding to when I say that people have seen his sort in their everyday life, and maybe they're painted affectionately as 'oh, he's a cheeky sod, isn't he?' Cue laughter.

On one hand, he has the right traits for 'pulling'; Ge has confidence, looks after his appearance and makes the odd cheeky line. But cheeky can become creepy. I dunno, it's a fine line. There'll be people who think it's ruining the work towards gender equality, but there's probably more people that don't give a shit about him and don't find him funny (but don't care about the ramifications of him/the show), or find him funny, or girls that like feeling desired and see those cheeky lines as complimentary and like feeling naughty.

Edit: I think Dead Mike makes valid points. I was going to mention that I think misogyny in mainstream music is probably more influential than Dapper Laughs (Blurred Lines being a global smash hit is the first that springs to mind). Not saying that makes Dapper Laughs any less misogynistic, or right, but I'm not outraged by him and don't buy into the depiction of him in the article. I am of the age range he's targetting so I guess I might see it differently.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Sphinx

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Well, cheers. I've just watched the first episode. I'm not sure it's any more offensive than the clubbing "expose" type shows that used to be popular a few years ago, but it's a depressing watch anyway.

many teenage girls end up seeing them as having the aspirational qualities of a partner.

Jesus, that's sad. That's the worst bit. In the era of Men Behaving Badly, the joke was that whilst the LADZ found the behaviour funny, the girls were always looking on with sad eyes. Now it's as if girls have been conditioned to expect nothing better.

EDIT: the people involved in The Young Ones were mainly university educated comedians that went on to make most of the great comedy of the next 20 years. Can we see Dapper and Keith Lemon producing a Bottom or Blackadder?

Edited October 10, 2014 by Loki

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In the wake of the Sam Pepper stuff, it was (rightly) pointed out a bunch that the Youtube and Vine celebrities are today's popstars. They've all got huge followings, predominantly from teenage girls who fancy them, and of late, there's been a big issue in the 'Youtube celebrity community' with some of them getting outed as using that fame in a Yewtree style.

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I've no moral objection to what he does -- I'm not going to tell his female fans that they're betraying their gender or something, like I'm trying to impress short-haired girls in the students union -- but he is fucking atrocious and I find it hard to fathom. I saw a bit of the first episode of his ITV show, and some of it was no worse than the usual shite TV output. The bit where he was trying to get someone who looked like me laid was reasonable enough (at least what I saw of it), but then it'd cut to bits aping his Vine videos where he'd just say the most fuckheaded things into the camera. And his Vines themselves are awful.

I asked a few months ago on here whether he was a parody, because it just seems like people should have more sense than to face-value love the shit he shits out. But it's not all an in-joke, and people do just love it. But some of his gigs do market him as a spoof, perhaps to draw in the ironic crowd. Fair play to him for doing well, but it's horrendous that what he's doing is working. He's worse than Mrs Brown's Boys. The false class war mentioned in the article is really interesting though, the idea of misogynistic banter being a working class value that should be protected. There could be some truth in that, sadly, because working class people are much more inclined to be thick as fuck than anyone else and love the worst kind of TV show. Now, more than ever (and extremely so in Dapper's case), people can become famous and successful on merit -- not by having some exceptional talent, necessarily, but by doing something that resonates with other people. He's a grassroots success, the cunt.

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the people involved in The Young Ones were mainly university educated comedians that went on to make most of the great comedy of the next 20 years. Can we see Dapper and Keith Lemon producing a Bottom or Blackadder?

I seriously doubt it. That's wasn't my point though, it's was that older people disapproving of what kids are into is nothing new.

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You picked the wrong example then! Disapproval is nothing new, but there's a difference between not "getting" a new form of music/comedy, and a whole generation just having hugely lowered expectations. Punk and alt comedy were reactions against how staid and commercial their respective fields had got. Dapper and his ilk seem to be a reaction against things being any good!